Food mixing machines are used to stir, mix, and knead ingredients in bowls. Stand mixers, for example, are food mixing machines that have a motor mounted in a weight-bearing frame or stand. The motor rotates mixing or agitating tools such as paddles, whisks, wire whips, and hooks while they are positioned in a bowl or other mixing container. The motorized tools mix, knead, whip, and stir ingredients in the bowl to save time and labor.
Conventional food preparation equipment frustrate users in many ways. For a given task, if the wrong attachment tool is used, the machine may perform poorly or even cause damage to the mixer or tool. Users are therefore burdened with a need to spend time to learn how and when to use each tool, often with less-than-ideal results. Also, users often have to learn by trial and error how long and at what speeds a machine needs to mix or knead certain recipes. This often leads to wasted batches of ingredients that are improperly mixed.
Also, food mixers may not effectively mix small volumes of ingredients. Mixer tools do not usually reach far enough into a bowl to be able to mix or whip small portions of ingredients by themselves since the ingredients settle below the tips of the tools or otherwise do not get enough engagement with mixing implement. For example, a typical mixer requires three or more egg whites to make meringue, but would be unable to do so with one egg white. A mixer tool can be configured to fit tightly against a bottom surface of the bowl, but the tool can be damaged if the tool is then operated without the bowl correctly positioned, if the tool gets bent, or if heavy or solid ingredients resist the precisely configured movement of the tool.
Some food mixers do not have lids over the bowls, so powdery or liquid ingredients may easily splash or float out of the bowl during mixing, especially when the mixer runs at high speeds. Other mixers have lids or covers for the bowl that limit expulsion of ingredients, but they do not effectively provide access or vision of the interior of the bowl. Also, because the lids may be difficult or time-consuming to attach to the bowl, they may detrimentally come off as mixing tools are moving. These lids usually also have a central opening that opens directly above a mixer tool attachment, so when ingredients are added to the mix, they are placed at least partially on top of the tool attachment in a way that unnecessarily slows down the user, prolongs mixing tasks, and wastes ingredients.
There is therefore a need for improvements in food preparation and mixing equipment and methods.